posted Sunday, 20 September 2009, 14:32 (+0800), by Martin
Last week, I recently spent a couple of days in Adelaide on a brief business trip.
After reading about Bert Stephani's 50/50 project, where he shoots anything and everything for the next 50 days with just a 50mm lens, I decided to travel light, and just took a Canon 50D body and a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens (I reviewed the 50mm f/1.8 lens here).
Here's a 20 second exposure out the window of my 9th floor hotel room in the middle of the city, taken well after sunset:
Because I was travelling light, I didn't have a tripod or remote shutter release with me, so I had to make do with what I could find in my hotel room. I balanced the camera on top of a can of Coke from the mini-bar, and used the camera strap underneath the near side of the can to tilt it slightly forward, as shown in the photo below (taken with the camera on my phone).
Using the 50D's LiveView, I manually focussed on the church, and then used the camera's self-timer to trigger the shutter, using with the 10 second timer delay to ensure the camera and can had stopped moving after the shutter button was depressed.
The next morning, I took a few more photos out the window, just after the sun had risen above the hills in the east.
I love the early morning light and the long shadows it produces. Check out the very long shadows of the pedestrians in the photo below.
The flare in the bottom left corner of the photo below shows the distinctive shape of the aperture blades of the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.
Limiting myself to just the 50mm f/1.8 lens was an interesting experience. I think a 50mm focal length on a full-frame camera is a little more flexible (apparently it's very close to the focal length of the human eye). However, I was using a 50mm lens on a camera body with an APS-C sensor, which results in a 1.6x crop factor. This means the 50mm focal length on the Canon 50D is the 35mm-equivalent of an 80mm lens - quite a bit longer than a 50mm lens on a full frame body.
To get a 35mm-equivalent of the 50mm focal length on an APS-C body would require a lens with a focal length of about 30mm (31.25mm if you want to be exact), and the closest to this is the Canon EF 35mm f/2 lens or the much more expensive Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM lens.
Forcing myself to use just the 50mm lens provides a better appreciation for the lens.
If you haven't used your 50mm lens recently, then put away your other lenses, and use just the 50mm lens for a few days.
After reading about Bert Stephani's 50/50 project, where he shoots anything and everything for the next 50 days with just a 50mm lens, I decided to travel light, and just took a Canon 50D body and a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens (I reviewed the 50mm f/1.8 lens here).
Here's a 20 second exposure out the window of my 9th floor hotel room in the middle of the city, taken well after sunset:
view from my hotel window at night
Adelaide, South Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 50mm f/1.8 @50mm, 20 sec, f/8, ISO100
Canon EOS 50D, 50mm f/1.8 @50mm, 20 sec, f/8, ISO100
Because I was travelling light, I didn't have a tripod or remote shutter release with me, so I had to make do with what I could find in my hotel room. I balanced the camera on top of a can of Coke from the mini-bar, and used the camera strap underneath the near side of the can to tilt it slightly forward, as shown in the photo below (taken with the camera on my phone).
using a Coke can as a make-shift tripod
Using the 50D's LiveView, I manually focussed on the church, and then used the camera's self-timer to trigger the shutter, using with the 10 second timer delay to ensure the camera and can had stopped moving after the shutter button was depressed.
The next morning, I took a few more photos out the window, just after the sun had risen above the hills in the east.
sunrise over the hills
Adelaide, South Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 50mm f/1.8 @50mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO250
Canon EOS 50D, 50mm f/1.8 @50mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO250
I love the early morning light and the long shadows it produces. Check out the very long shadows of the pedestrians in the photo below.
The flare in the bottom left corner of the photo below shows the distinctive shape of the aperture blades of the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.
long shadows in the morning sun
Adelaide, South Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 50mm f/1.8 @50mm, 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO250
Canon EOS 50D, 50mm f/1.8 @50mm, 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO250
SA Water
Adelaide, South Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 50mm f/1.8 @50mm, 1/100 sec, f/10, ISO250
Canon EOS 50D, 50mm f/1.8 @50mm, 1/100 sec, f/10, ISO250
Limiting myself to just the 50mm f/1.8 lens was an interesting experience. I think a 50mm focal length on a full-frame camera is a little more flexible (apparently it's very close to the focal length of the human eye). However, I was using a 50mm lens on a camera body with an APS-C sensor, which results in a 1.6x crop factor. This means the 50mm focal length on the Canon 50D is the 35mm-equivalent of an 80mm lens - quite a bit longer than a 50mm lens on a full frame body.
To get a 35mm-equivalent of the 50mm focal length on an APS-C body would require a lens with a focal length of about 30mm (31.25mm if you want to be exact), and the closest to this is the Canon EF 35mm f/2 lens or the much more expensive Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM lens.
Forcing myself to use just the 50mm lens provides a better appreciation for the lens.
If you haven't used your 50mm lens recently, then put away your other lenses, and use just the 50mm lens for a few days.
